The Ender Virus
by Yanderegrl43ver
Summary: Alice is not your typical Minecraftian. She was tougher than anyone could ever imagine. But when she was wounded by an Enderman, Alice started… changing. She was told that it was a virus contracted from wound afflicted by the mob, but is it really…? ((No longer accepting OCs))
1. Prologue

Prologue

There were mobs everywhere. Zombies, skeletons, creepers, even Endermen were chasing after one person. She was running at full speed across a forest, her jet black hair flipping wildly in the wind. A black bow and a quiver full of diamond tipped arrows are slung over her shoulder. She grabbed her bow and three arrows and shot at the large horde of zombies. Up ahead she spots a small hut in the distance. She grabbed a speed potion and downed the entire bottle.

As the potion took effect, she sprinted full speed towards the house. After only a few seconds she reached the torch-lit door. She was about to knock on the door when an Enderman teleports behind her and digs it's claws deep into her shoulder. With a scream of agony, she crashed to the ground. She could barely make out a man's shocked face at the door when her azure eyes flutter closed and she mutters out one word.

"Help."

**Author's Note: HEEEY GUYS! Behold the first chapter of The Ender Virus. The next chapter will be up in a bit. Let me know what you think of it!**

**Peace Out**

**~Yandere Chan**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Alice awoke to a loud klunk followed by a string of silent curses. She slowly sat up on the bed she was occupying and looked around the wooden house. Crouched down near the door was an eighteen-year-old boy with short brown hair and dark blue eyes picking up logs that he probably dropped, causing the loud noise. He looked up and his eyes widened when he saw that she was awake.

"Oh! S-sorry, did I wake you?" the boy said, opening a chest and hastily throwing the wood inside.

"It's alright…where am I?" She asked, her voice slightly hoarse.

He brushed the dirt off his blue shirt and worn jeans and walked over to her side, sitting on the block of wool placed there. "You are in my house. I found you outside my door about two nights ago and you were pretty roughed up. I'm surprised you weren't dead."

He let out a single awkward chuckle and held out his hand. "Silly me, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Steve. And you are…?"

She coughed and shook his hand. "I'm Alice."

She pulled the red blankets away and frowned. Bandages covered most of her right side and three, long lines of blood marked where the wounds were. But the reason Alice was frowning was because instead of the denim jacket, grey tank top and shorts she was wearing the night prior, she was instead wearing a large t-shirt similar to Steve's.

"Steve, can I ask you something?" Alice said, looking up to meet the latter's eyes.

"Hm?" Steve tilted his head curiously.

"Where are my clothes?"

He looked up in thought before answering. "They were covered in blood and the jacket and top had some rips on it. I sewed them up and washed them in the river outside. Right now, they're hanging up to dry." Steve paused for a moment and blushed, quickly adding, "B-but I didn't see anything, I-I swear!"

Alice stared at the miner for a few moments before grinning widely and bursting into a fit of stifled giggles. She stopped abruptly and clutched her head as a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over her, letting out a quiet groan. Alice flopped back down on the bed and closed her eyes. She opened them when she felt a hand on her forehead.

"When was the last time that you ate?" Steve asked, pulling his hand away.

"I don't remember…four or five days ago?"

"Well that explains it. You haven't really healed that much the past few days, but I guess you just have to eat." He said, standing up and opening one of the chests. He took out two raw steaks and put it in the oven. The aroma of roast meat soon filled the air as Steve took out the perfectly cooked steaks and placed it on two separate plates.

"So what exactly happened to you, Alice? I wasn't exactly sure as of what happened except for the fact that there were _a lot _of mobs out there." He handed her a plate and took a bite out of his own steak.

"They were all chasing me for some reason." Alice said as she ate, restraining herself from devouring the entire thing. "I think it was an Enderman who attacked me and caused the gash on my shoulder, but that's only from what I can see. For all I know it could be a skeleton archer or some other mob that inflicted it."

Steve set the plate on the side table. "No, it's definitely an Enderman. I haven't had an injury as serious as that one, but I could tell from the shape and number of gashes that it's an Enderman's claws."

Alice put her own plate on the table. "You seem know a lot about medical stuff, Steve."

He chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well…when you spend a large portion of your life in mob-infested caves, you pick up a thing or two from all of the trips to the healer."

"So you're a miner then." She said.

"Yes I am. Which reminds me, I need to make a trip to the mines. I'm running out of coal and iron. Do you mind if I leave you here alone for a bit? It'll only be for about a half hour or so."

Alice rolled her injured shoulder for a bit before nodding. "I think I'm healed enough to protect myself if any problem were to arise. I'll be fine."

Steve stood up and grabbed the iron pickaxe leaned against the wall. "I'll be quick. And just in case you were wondering, your backpack and all of your other things is in that chest over there. If you're still hungry there should be some fruit in the chest beside that one." And with that, he left and shut the door behind him.

She lay still for a few minutes and stood up slowly, still not completely recovered from the slight nausea. Her legs were a bit shaky from the lack of use, but she made her way over the chests without much trouble. After retrieving her bag and taking an apple from the other chest, Alice plopped back down on the bed and checked for any missing items.

"Everything is still here." She muttered to no one in particular. Munching on the apple, she looked out the window. The sun was still high up and Alice was practically itching to be outside after staying indoors for a while. She never liked the feeling of being caged in. Alice slung the bag over her good shoulder and walked out the door.

The air outside was a bit warm and humid from the constant rain followed by a couple days of sunny weather. She stopped walking any further when she remembered her outfit (or lack thereof) and spotted her clothes hanging on a makeshift clothesline beside the miner's home. After changing into them, Alice followed the cobblestone path to a nearby clearing, where some animals and creepers were walking about.

Looking around, she found around five normal arrows dropped by the skeletons and placed them in the bag with the enchanted ones. She took a normal one and loaded her obsidian bow, having a bit of trouble pulling back the string due to the stiffness and soreness of her mostly-healed shoulder. When she did manage to do so, Alice closed an eye and aimed for the closest creeper's head. Taking a deep breath, she released the string, but her aim faltered at the last second. The arrow didn't kill the green mob but instead hit its body and angered it.

Alice cursed internally as the creeper hissed furiously and looked around for whoever shot the arrow. As the mob approached, she quickly but quietly ran back to the house, where she bumped into the miner.

"Hey there you are. I was wondering where you wandered off. What where you doing?" Steve asked, putting the handle of his pickaxe through his belt loop.

"Um…target practice?" Alice said, holding up her bow.

"Nice bow. Can I see that for a sec?" He commented, taking the black and dark purple bow into his coal-smudged hands. "Whoa. Is this made of obsidian…?"

"Yeah, it is." She replied, taking it back. "Obsidian has some magical properties, so it makes any enchantment slightly more powerful. Plus it also lets you put stuff like custom made enchantments on it like-" Alice stopped when she saw a green figure behind the miner. As she looked at it closer, she noticed the blue electric current surrounding the creeper and the shaft of an arrow protruding from its back…

"Shit." She muttered, grabbing Steve's wrist and pulling him behind a tree.

"What are you doing? Why are we-" he was cut off as she clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Charged creeper." Alice said, voice barely above a whisper. "I-uh- think I pissed it off earlier."

"What do you mean you-oh. Is that what you meant by 'target practice'? You shot at a _charged creeper?_" he whispered in disbelief, his voice muffled by her hand.

"I…didn't notice that it was charged, okay? And it was _supposed _to die right away, but I missed." She shot back, pulling her hand away.

"I don't even-" the miner sighed, exasperated. "You know what? Let's just find a way to either get rid of it or drive it away before it blows up and turns my house into a crater."

"Agreed."

Alice leaned her head to the side. The creeper did not notice their presence yet, but still looked persistently for the one that shot it. As quietly as she can, Alice felt around blindly in her bag and took out a random arrow. Not wasting another second she loaded the bow, pulled the string back and sent the arrow flying straight towards the creeper's head. The mob turned its head towards the sound and the arrow went straight through its eye socket. A shrill hiss was heard, as the creeper appeared to distort when a vortex opened where the arrow penetrated. It pulled the mob in, ripping it apart from the inside out before disappearing completely, the diamond tip of the arrow clattered as it hit the cobblestone path.

"It's gone now." She said simply before going to retrieve it.

Steve followed behind her and caught sight of the faint glow coming from the arrow. "So I'm guessing that arrow was enchanted too? Though I'm not sure I've seen something like that."

"Honestly? I didn't know what it did up until a few days ago. The reason you haven't seen something like that before is probably because it is a 'custom' enchantment, if you may call it. I created it myself."

"That's really cool. So where exactly do they end up?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Another dimension? The Void? I don't really care."

"Well that's nice of you." He said sarcastically. "We should go back inside. It's almost sunset."

"Okay. So did you find anything interesting while you were-Gah!" Alice stopped in her tracks and clutched at her chest, collapsing onto the ground.

"Alice! What's wrong?" He kneeled beside her and froze.

Her eyes that were once azure were glazed over in pain and glowed faint purple. Soon after, her hand dropped down and she fell unconscious.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I have an announcement. I am accepting OCs for my story! Just PM me and I'll put your character in (if I like it)!**

**I just need:**

**Name, age, appearance, personality, special characteristics (if any), their outfit, anything else that might be interesting!**

**I apologize if the chapters are super short. They looked longer on my iPod…**

**ON WITH THE CHAPTER!**

Chapter 2

Alice was in a grand obsidian throne room. Far away, she spots a dark red throne atop a cobblestone stage. A large window behind the throne overlooks a dark world with a lava ocean and several white jellyfish- like creatures flying around. The glow from the lava leaked into the window causing it to illuminate the room, being the only source of light. A man with a striking resemblance to Steve faced the window.

"Steve! Thank Notch you're here! Do you know wh-" she stumbled back as she saw that his eyes were completely white.

_**HEROBRINE IS YOUR MASTER. YOU WILL SERVE HIM AND ONLY HIM. THOSE WHO OPPOSE HIM MUST**_ _**DIE.**_ A loud booming voice repeated in her head, getting louder each time. Alice fell to her knees clutching her head.

"MAKE IT STOP!" She yelled before slipping into the darkness.

She awoke lying on her bed in Steve's hut. She could hear faint moans and the scent of burning flesh so she assumed that it was about sunrise. He was sleeping on a small wooden chair beside her. She walked towards a cauldron full of water and saw a pair of glowing purple eyes staring back at her. That's when Steve was jolted awake by a scream.

Steve looked over at the direction of the sound and saw Alice curled up at the corner, trembling slightly with her head between her knees. He walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. She bolted up and disappeared and appeared on the opposite side of the room, leaving a trail of purple snowflake-like dust floating in the air. Her eyes were wide in shock.

"W-what's going on!?"

Steve pondered for a moment before hatching an idea.

"Alice, grab your stuff." He commanded as he started gathering his tools.

"Where are we going?" she asked while putting all her stuff in her backpack.

"I know someone in a town east from here. He might be able to know what's going on."

Alice just nodded and continued packing.

~Alice POV~

The sun was high up when we arrived at a small village. Steve said that he knew someone that could figure out what was going on. I don't really know the details, but what have I got to lose? I was still shaken up by the dream I had. I had this weird hunch that something bad was going to happen.

"Now if I remember correctly, his house should be… over there!" he said pointing to a fairly large cobblestone cabin. I look at the door and see a man stepping out. He had spiked snow white hair and was wearing sunglasses, a plain navy blue shirt, black jeans, black combat boots.

I guess he recognized Steve because when they saw us, he started running full speed and tackling him to the ground in a massive bear hug.

"STEVE! Oh my God I missed you!" he yelled.

"I missed you too Nick, but there's no need to squeeze the life out of me." Steve said getting up.

The man named Nick pouted and crossed his arms. Then he looked over to me and grinned.

"Don't tell me you found yourself a girlfriend, Steve. But I can't say I'm surprised, she's pretty hot." I felt myself blushing scarlet and saw that Steve was as red as Redstone.

"S-she's just my friend." he stuttered.

"I'm Alice." I said quickly changing the subject. "We need your help"

"What is it?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it started about two days ago..."

~Normal POV~

After telling what has happened, Nick was rubbing his chin, deep in thought. He took off his sunglasses and sighed. His left eye was a warm shade of chocolate brown and the right eye was a pale blue colour, with a jagged scar running from his forehead to his cheekbone.

"Come inside. I need to see a few things." he said finally.

The inside of the house was cluttered with several medical books and equipment. He was clearing a table and putting on a white lab coat that matches his hair. Alice sat up on the table, placing her backpack in the ground.

He reached into a box and pulled out a syringe. "Take off your jacket." he commanded.

She winced slightly as the needle was slid into her arm. The blood filled a quarter of the syringe. He put a drop of blood on a glass slide and put it under a microscope. Then looking at a different microscope and occasionally changing slides.

"Give me a bottle of your speed potion." Nick said, directing Alice.

She rummaged through her bag and handed him a bottle containing a teal colored liquid. He placed a drop of the potion on the glass slide. Five minutes of flipping through books and looking into microscopes later, he ran a hand through his snowy white hair and started pacing while muttering "This is bad" repeatedly.

"What is it?" Steve asked.

Nick chewed on his thumbnail.

"Alice is turning into an Enderman."

Sorry if this chapter sucked. It's almost 10:00pm and I'm tired. R&R!

PEACE OUT!

~Yandere Chan


	4. Chapter 3

**I HAS RETURNED WITH A NEW CHAPTER FOR THE ENDER VIRUS! Thanks for all the reviews and for those who submitted the OCs. I realized that I didn't do a disclaimer, got here it is. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. I only own Alice and some of the other characters. **

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

Chapter 3

"Alice is turning into an Enderman."

Steve and Alice were speechless.

"…How?" she whispered.

"Well, you said that you drank a speed potion? While under the effects of a potion, all of your energy is focused on the systems that you need to enhance your performance. In this case, your muscular, respiratory, circulatory, and nervous system. Which leaves your immune system. Some people when clawed by an Enderman in this period of time, just have temporary side effects. But the potion Alice used had very strong ingredients so her immune system was vunerable. The virus carried by the Enderman, or the Ender virus, slowly alters your DNA and eventually…"

"I'll turn into one myself." she finished.

"I'm afraid so."

The silence hung heavy in the air.

"There isn't a cure, is there." she said, sounding more like a statement than a question.

Nick remained silent.

"Is there a cure or not?" Steve pressed.

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk about this. I am being watched." He muttered while pushing them out the door. He hands Alice her denim jacket.

"Nice to see you again, Steve. Nice to meet you Alice,". The door closes with a loud slam.

"What the heck was that all about?" she asked putting her jacket on.

"I don't know. But we should find somewhere to sleep, it's getting late." Steve responded. "There's an inn close bye. We'll sleep there for the night."

They arrived at a small brick inn at the middle of town. Steve and Alice checked into the only vacant room and realized one fatal flaw…

"Why is there only one bed?!" she complained.

He sighed. "It was the only room left, Alice. We kinda don't have any other choices here." Steve looked towards her. "If you want, I can sleep on the floor."

"No, it's fine. Just stay on your side." she grumbled,disappearing into the bathroom. It wasn't anything special. An iron cauldron filled with water was placed at the corner of the small room next to a rack with black, wool towels on it.

She continued cursing under her breath as she shed her jacket and let it drop. Something rolled out of the pocket and onto the floor. Alice picked it up and saw that it was a ring. It was made of iron and had engravings of roses surrounding the shank. The small black gem that rested ontop of the ring had an odd aura to it. It was like a dark shadow was swirling around the inside. She shook off the feeling of uneasiness and placed it on the counter. She grabbed a towel and dunked it in the water, but suddenly recoiled in pain when she felt a burning sensation as her hand touched the water. She bit her lip to prevent her from screaming out in pain so it came out as a muffled groan.

"Alice, are you okay?" came Steve's voice from outside.

"I'm fine! Can you just pass me my backpack?" Alice called out. She looked down at her right hand and grimaced as she saw that most of her arm was red. Her thoughts were interrupted with Steve opening the door holding her black backpack in his left hand.

He frowned, placing the bag next to her on the floor. "What happened?"

"I don't know. My hand got wet and then all of the sudden, it started burning." she replied rummaging through her bag with her good hand. She took out a long strip of clean white cloth and started wrapping it around her bad hand as a makeshift bandage.

"Well it makes sense. You're part Enderman and they get injured when they touch water." he said.

"Thanks for the warning, Steve." Alice muttered sarcastically. She finished wrapping her arm, grabbed the ring then placing it in her pocket, and walked out the bathroom carrying her backpack. She threw it at the corner by the door and plopped down on the bed, clearly exhausted from the day's events. Sleep didn't come easy that night.

~Nick POV~

I slam the door and lock it. It was getting dark so I knew that it would only be a matter of time before he comes back. The moon rose in the sky as all of my torches blew out, leaving me in the dark.

"Hello again, Nick"

I turn to the direction of the voice only to see darkness. He stepped out of the shadows. I was the first one to speak.

"I don't understand what was so special about her, she's just a girl, Herobrine."

He started pacing slowly. "Don't be fooled. Alice is one of my brother's top men."

I frown "Impossible. She's not even a Valkyrie."

Herobrine stopped pacing and faced the window.

"Notch has gotten soft. She was abandoned as a child. Took her under his wing and trained her to be a fine warrior." he turned around and stared at me with his blank eyes.

"Knowing my brother, he won't be able to fight back with his 'daughter' in my control. He knows perfectly what I'm capable of and knows that I can kill her whenever I want."

"I see." I said, after thinking over his plan. Then I remembered something. "Why did you want her to receive that ring?"

Herobrine chuckles darkly. "Let's just say that it prevents anything…inconvenient. Ehehehehe… AHAHAHAHA!" His dark laughter echoed throughout the cabin. "Everything's falling into place."

**DUN DUN DUUUUN! And that concludes chapter 3 of The Ender Virus! Bye! Tell you friends! R&R!**

**PEACE OUT**

**~Yandere chan**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Author's Note: Happy 2013! Sorry to my many (and by many I mean probably five at the most) readers on the huge updating time gap, I was looking for a writing app that has italics, bold, etc. But unfortunately I found none. On another note, the reason why Alice doesn't know s**t about Herobrine will be explained in future chapters (So be patient!) I also apologize for the suckiness of the chapter.

Am I forgetting something…? Oh yes, the OCs! I have selected the top three OCs submitted and the first place winner shall be an important part of the story. The other two will be major-minor characters. Congratulations to Shado-chan, Kitty Cat and PUR3 K1LL3R on the winning OCs! *Cheers*. Now…

ON WITH THE STORY!

~Alice POV~

The following morning I woke up from the the same nightmare I had the night before. Everything was the same; the throne room, the dark world filled with fire and lava, that man and the voices said the exact same thing. Who was this Herobrine that the voices keep mentioning? A small groan escaped my lips. This was all too much for me to process so early in the morning. I tiredly made a beeline for the bathroom and looked in the mirror, slightly recoiling at my reflection. My right shoulder no longer had the claw marks, but my upper arm and the right side of my neck and face were as black as coal. My right eye was completely bright purple but the left eye was still the same azure blue. I unwrapped the bandage and, to my relief, saw that the burn healed overnight. Quietly, I stepped out of the loo and scanned the room for any sign of Steve.

I raised an eyebrow when I saw his sleeping form sprawled at the corner of the room. The inn obviously lacked Crafting Tables since his 'bed' was just a pile of wool covered by a towel. As I stretched my back, I walked towards the said corner. Then gently nudged his side with my foot.

"Steve, what on Minecraftia are you doing sleeping on a pile of wool and towels?" I stage whispered. He groaned and rolled over to face me, eyes still closed.

"You… taking up …entire bed… looked tired… didn't…wake you…" he murmured. I spent a minute trying to decipher and filling in the missing words.

"I was taking up the entire bed but I looked tired so you didn't want to wake me?" I concluded and he confirmed it with a tired grunt. "Well that was very nice of you, but can you get me something to eat? I'm starving."

"Do it yourself…" his whining was slightly muffled by the wool. I chewed on my lower lip before saying:

"I, uh, can't… cook. At… all…" I said a bit begrudgingly, trailing off at the end. There was a moment of silence before I heared faint laughter; which was replaced by coughing and groaning as I sharply kicked him in the side.

"Okay. Okay. One sec." he said, trying to cover up his laughter and ultimately failing.

I watched as he slowly cracked his eyes open, blinked hazily then yelped, sitting up. His face was contorted with shock and a hint of fear and confusion. Steve then took a deep breath and relaxed.

"It's getting worse." he stated simply before getting up and stretching his back. Steve grabbed his backpack and started to walk into the bathroom.

"I know." I paused before adding, "I'm still hungry, y'know."

"I'll cook you a porkchop or something." he said and closed the door behind him.

I quickly threw on my clothes from yesterday plus a black cloak and tied my hair into a ponytail before hoisting my backpack over my shoulder. As I was zipping up my denim jacket, I remembered the ring in my pocket. Sometimes I swear that I hear whispers coming from the damn thing. But it was probably my imagination. It's really pretty though…

Deciding that it was probably nothing, I tied it on a string and put it around my neck. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

…Irony has a sick sense of humor.

I collapsed on my knees. It was like I was thrown into the ocean and for what seems like forever, I couldn't breath and my entire body convulsed with burning pain and agony. The corners of my vision were clouded with dark spots and thousands of voices filled my head. Then just as quickly as it started, the pain stopped, my vision cleared and I could breath again. I propped myself up with my elbow and gasped for much needed air, wiping the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve. Okay, this ring is DEFINITLY the thing that caused it. I yanked the string sharply.

It won't break. I pulled it repeatedly until the string dug into my skin and I felt the warmth of my own blood trickle down the nape of my neck. I tried untying the knot that looped the string. But whatever possessed the ring somehow made it disappear. What if I tried pulling it over my head? No… the string was too short. I was stuck with this demonic ring around my neck until I can figure out how to get rid I this thing. Distracted with my own musings, I didn't notice Steve step out of the bathroom. Or the fact that I was still lying down on the wooden floor. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off as I stood up.

"Don't ask." I said. I shifted the straps of my bag before saying, "I'm going for a walk. Join me if you want to.". I walked out the room, pulling my hood up to hide my face in the shadows, the long cloak trailing behind me.

A few minutes later, he caught up to me as I turned the corner to Nick's Cobblestone cabin. He and I had some unfinished business to take care of.

"Alice, wh-" his sentence was cut off as a I held up my right hand. I proceeded to the wooden door and saw that it was slightly ajar. It creaked silently as I pushed it open. Slowly, I walked in and scanned the inside. The inside retained it's usual clutter from yesterday, but no sign of the white-haired doctor. So I called out, "Nick! I need to talk to you!" There was no answer.

"Nick!" I repeated a bit louder. I was about to call out again when I saw something on the table that caught my attention. It was a ring. In fact, it was almost identical to the one around my neck except that gem was translucent orange with red and yellow swirling inside, almost like fire. I picked it up, but froze instantly when I felt the cold, sharp kiss of the tip of an iron sword prodding the back of my neck.

"Turn around slowly." a low, threatening voice ordered.

A/N: Sorry that it was really short. I wanted to post something ASAP. Please let me know if I made any mistakes.


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: OKAY! I have not one, not two, but FOUR reasons why I am taking too damn long to update.

1. The infamous writer's block has taken yet another author. Three guesses on who it is.

2. I am actually working on a manga. It's pretty difficult since I'm the illustrator, writer and everything else.

3. I have been busy with stuff like homework, course selections, cell cakes…yknow, all that going-into-high school stuff!

4. A friend of mine has been bugging me to write something on my WattPad account, so I have THAT to update as well.

Anywaaayyyssss… that's why I'm taking so long to update. And thank you followers for being patient with me and a shout-out to Shado-Chan and stripesthetiger11 for being awesome reviewer people :3 Now…

ON WITH THE STOREHHHHH! (￣^￣)ゞ

~Normal POV~

Steve and Alice darted across the heavily wooded forest, occasionally making sharp turns in hopes that they would lose their pursuer.

"Why didn't you tell me that he was dangerous?! He almost sliced my head off!" The seventeen year old warrior yelled out between frantic gasps for air.

"I didn't know!" the miner defended, "He wasn't crazy last time I checked. But then again, a lot can happen two years!"

"Not the time, Steve!" she called back.

The roar of rushing water filled the air and a familiar river caught the miner's eye.

"Alice!" he hollered to his right, "That river! It's the same one just outside one of my cabins!"

"Your point?"

"If we can cross the river, we can hide out there!" he replied, "Follow my lead!" Steve then suddenly turned left, Alice following close behind. The rushing sound grew louder as the pair sprinted towards the clearing. They stopped at the muddy river bed at a stream about eight blocks across.

Although the miner had no problems stepping in and walking through the flowing rapids, Alice made no move to even step foot into said river. He noticed this and stopped near the middle where it stopped a bit above his midriff.

"What are you waiting for? I can already hear his footsteps so we have to hurry."

"I…I can't." her voice rasped with the moisture of the air stinging in her throat.

Steve pressed his lips in a thin line before swimming to the other side. "Teleport to this side."

"What?"

"The other day you teleported from one side of the room to the opposite side. Do it again." Footsteps echoed through the trees, "And hurry. I can hear him coming."

Alice shook her head. "That was just a fluke. I don't think I can do it again."

"You're going to have to try." More footsteps that grew nearer every second, "Like, right now."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 'I can do this!' The young warrior gritted her teeth. 'Come on!'

Then she felt this…muscle…flex. There was a brief but sharp pain in her chest as a feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed

her. The pain and the sensation only lasted about two seconds before it was gone and Alice landed on the ground beside Steve with a barely audible 'oof'. She opened her eyes and saw a round, teal object float towards her and disappeared into her chest where the heart was. An Ender Pearl.

The miner came into her line of sight and held out a hand. After helping her up, he muttered "Follow me." and ran into the other forest.

'I wonder what that was about.' she wondered, rubbing her hands together to try and get rid of the odd yet warm feeling that lingered.

The two ran for a few more minutes before reaching a large grassy clearing in the middle of the forest. A hut made of a mixture of dirt and wood with the front part being made completely out of cobblestone stood steady in the center of the field. It was when they reached the wooden door when Steve noticed how close the sun was to the horizon. The bright yellow-orange square just barely touched the vista.

'Wow. We've been running for the entire day?' The miner thought. 'It didn't feel that long-'

His thoughts were cut off when he heared a "Watch out!" and was tackled to the ground by Alice. Mere seconds later, a massive ball of fire whizzes through the air and crashed through the solid stone wall, setting the insides ablaze. The two turned their heads to the general direction in which the fire discharge came from and their eyes widened.

What stood-or rather floated-on the charred pathway that was once half a forest was Nick. But the shocking part was the twelve glowing yellow rods that rotated around his person, making Nick's skin slightly yellow. A column of light gray smoke rose from his feet. They almost didn't recognize him if it weren't for his mismatched eyes. His spiky hair was a mix of orange and yellow that swayed like a flame.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me." the blaze said, holding out a glowing hand.

Alice stood from her position on the ground. She knew what he was talking about. Involuntarily, her left hand brushed the jacket pocket. She could feel the slight bump where the ring was.

Steve also stood up and brushed himself off. His face was calm, but the slight waver in his voice gave away his fear. "Look, Nick. I don't know what you're talking about, but-"

"Don't play dumb, I know you have it!" Nick roared, the flames at his ankles flaring up at his outburst. Then the scientist dropped to his feet and walked towards the pair.

"That thing you stole from me…it's what keeps me from turning into this…thing." he spat out the last word as if it was poison. "Give it back…and maybe I'll let you live."

"I don't have it." Alice said, deciding to play dumb.

"LIAR!" a large ball of fire was hurled at the warrior and she side-stepped, only managing to brush the tips of her side bangs. It crashed through the hut and completely obliterated what was left of it. Chunks of the red-hot discharge flew in all directions, setting the surrounding trees and other plants on fire. Alice's training kicked in almost instantly and every fireball thrown at her did not hit their target.

Steve, however, was not so lucky.

Most of the ones hurled at his direction just barely missed and one hit Steve square in the chest, knocking the miner to the ash-ridden ground and rendering the brunette unconcious. Alice's head turned to his direction and her eyes widened.

"No!"

Nick took the opportunity and threw a fire discharge at the warrior. Alice didn't notice on time and before she could even react, it hit her in the chest. Black dots clouded her vision as she fell to the ground, doubling over in agony. The blaze floated to Alice's side and gave a sadistic smirk as she tried to stand, only to have a boot crush her ribs and pin her to the ground.

A wisp of fire continued to grow in size at his hand and it soon became massive. Nick's hand went into position and he smiled. "Now you can be by Lord Herobrine's side."

The sun disappeared into the horizon and the moon rose at the opposite end. At that instant, the half-Ender warrior was enveloped in a dark aura. Her eyes-which were shut in pain-snapped open to reveal two glowing, violet orbs. As the dark dissipated, Alice lay motionless with non-blinking eyes staring at the scientist. Feeling slightly unnerved, Nick averted his eyes.

That was all it took.

Mere seconds later, Alice disappeared in a puff of lavender snowflake-like dust. The blaze stood shocked for a moment. She appeared behind him and long, claw-like appendages slid out of her clenched right fist with a quiet 'shnk'. Upon hearing the noise, Nick turned around only to jump back as the black claws narrowly missed his jugular.

Without missing a beat, the warrior swiftly booted his torso and pinned Nick to the ground. Then with no hesitation, her claws impaled him through the chest. A bright orange light engulfed the entire clearing as the blaze howled in pure agony and as the light diminished, Nick's body was nowhere in sight.

Alice blinked as she snapped out of her trance. She hissed and wrapped and arm around her ribs. It was painful for her to even breathe, so she figured a rib or two might be broken. A low moan made the half-Ender look to her left.

"Steve!" she rushed to the miner's side, ignoring the pain and kneeled to roll Steve on his back. His teal shirt was burnt and tattered and judging by what she can see, he also broke a couple of ribs. Alice reached out to slap his face lightly and her eyes widened when she saw the bloody appendages. She clenched her fist again and the claws slid out of sight. "What the…" Another groan snapped Alice out of her reverie. Steve's blue eyes opened slowly.

"…What…happened…?" he whispered, voice slightly hoarse. "…Why does…it hurt-" a fit of coughing cut off his speech. A small trickle of blood dripped out of his mouth.

"You got hit. It'll be okay, I promise." she said, a single tear slid down her cheek.

The miner smiled weakly. "I…could really use…a nap right now…" And with that, he closed his eyes.

Alice placed a trembling hand to his lips and sighed in relief when she felt small bursts of air. She stood and carefully leaned Steve against a tree in a semi-sitting position, moving his arm so that it supports his ribs. After sitting beside him, the warrior noticed how tired she was and leaned her head on the tree trunk. Her eyelids drooped, letting sleep take over.

~? POV~

We followed the trail of burnt foliage to find a raging river. Not too long ago, the three of us came across a village that had half of it engulfed in flames. Thank Notch most of the villagers escaped. With a wave of a hand, the flames dissipated.

"Are you sure she came around here?"

I turned to my right and crossed my arms.

"I asked the villagers. And I heared their thoughts. A girl with black hair and a guy with brown hair were being chased into the forest by some guy. So if I'm right, we should be able to find her if we follow the trail."

He walked over and placed an elbow on my head. "Well maybe you're wrong, little sis."

"This is serious." I said, wings ruffling to show my frustration. "She was supposed to return to the Aether three days ago. For all we know, she might be hurt or worse."

"Guys, I see something!" I looked to my right to see that my other companion had already crosses the river. "It's her! She's here!"

My brother and I quickly crossed the river and followed him.

Alice…please be okay

A/N: So yay! New chappie! Okay, I know I made it look like Steve died, but he's alive, I swear.

R&R!


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: I hope people are still reading this D: Stupid writer's block. AAAANNNYYYWWWAAYYYSSS…Guess whaaaatttt~! So out of pure boredom and since I have lots of time to kill, the Ender Virus characters now has a tumblr page! It's .com. Check it out, ask any of the characters (or me!) a question, whatever.

PUR3 K1LL3R, your OC is appearing this chapter. :3

ON WITH THE STORY! (⌒▽⌒)

UPDATE: Ugh. Does Fanfiction hate links or something? Cuz it just reads ".com"! The URL is in my profile.

~Normal POV~

For the first time in the past week, Alice did not dream about that dark castle in that hellish world. In fact, she did not dream about anything at all. For who-knows how-long, it was as if she was lying in an endless void of darkness, not being able to move or speak. To her, it almost felt…peaceful.

Then she heared voices. At first it was echoey and distant, but gradually got louder and clearer as the minutes ticked by.

"…think we should…like this. Someone mi…us."

"You're right…unsafe…flying when Ar…her…tired of carr…guy…land over there."

She frowned. 'I can't hear anything over the wind. Wait…wind isn't supposed to be this loud in the Overworld…Unless I'm somewhere really high up-'

Her thoughts were cut short when Alice felt whoever was carrying her wrap their arms tighter around her legs and torso, making the young warrior wince internally as it sent a wave of pain through her body.

Then without any warning, she felt the sudden feeling of free-falling from a great height. Alice would have screamed, but she was still in the darkness of the void. There was nothing she could do. Several seconds later, the half-Ender felt the harsh wind die down into a slight breeze as they landed on solid ground.

"Hang in there, Alicia. We're almost home." she heared a voice whisper before dark tendrils of unconciousness pulled her back into the silent, solitary darkness.

Alice woke up to the sound of talking and the faint crackle of a bonfire. She cracked open her eyes to see four figures sitting on red sleeping mats around a small fire, one of them being the unconcious but still living form of Steve. She also knew the other three, having living with them in the Aether along with nine other Valkyries.

The eldest of the three was Arson. He was a foot taller than Alice with unkemt, black hair and equally black eyes. Arson looked like he was nineteen, but is three hundred years old. He wore an iron chest plate over his grey long-sleeved shirt, baggy grey cargo pants and leather boots dyed black. His wings were a soft, smoky grey dotted with black.

The second eldest was Chris. He was only about a few inches shorter than Arson with short, light brown hair and bluish-green eyes. Chris looked about eighteen years old, but his actual age is about two hundred and eighty. He wore a black t-shirt with dark blue pants and grey combat boots. His wings were white mottled with greys and browns.

The youngest was Adia, Arson's little sister. She was about a foot shorter than Alice with raven, mid-back length hair and pitch black eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses. Adia appears to be about fourteen years old, but is a couple of decades above two hundred. She wore a black t-shirt with dark grey short-pants and black running shoes. Her wings were white with grey tips.

Upon hearing the half-Ender stir, all three of the Valkyries snapped their heads towards the sound, involuntarily reaching for their weapons.

"Looks like little Alicia's awake, guys." Arson grinned, releasing the grip on his Zanite sword. "How're you feeling, kiddo?"

Alice sat up, a hiss of pain escaping her lips as some of the gashes and burns are disturbed from the movement.

"Whoa there! You were pretty mangled, so don't move around so much!" Adia sighed, easing the injured warrior back down.

"It feels like someone kicked me down a cliff into a pit of lava." Alice rasped, closing her mismatched eyes.

"So do you mind telling us why you are three days late on returning? And what the Ne- what happened to you?" Chris asked.

She sighed. "It's a long story…"

Adia placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alice. If you've forgotten Arson, Chris and I are immortal. Do you really think a long story will do anything to us?"

'You have no idea…' Alice thought, opening her eyes to meet their expectant gazes. She took a deep breath and started telling them what happened.

~-FLASHBACK: One week earlier-~

"Alice."

The young warrior looked up from the book she had been reading upon hearing someone call her name. A bald, bearded god stood in front of her. He was tall with broad shoulders and was wearing his usual tan shirt and grey slacks.

A smile adorned her lips as she closed the book. "What is it father?" she stood from her spot under a Skyroot tree.

Notch smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to do something for me."

"What do you need me to do?" she asked, sensing the slightest hint of urgency in his tone.

"It's about the team of Valkyries. The ones that went missing five days ago."

"You want me to go to the Overworld and look for them?"

"Something like that." He placed a folded map on her hand. "Go to the Overworld and investigate the area marked red. If you find anything that may be linked to the disappearances, I want you to come back here. But don't stay there longer than a week, do you understand?"

Alice nodded, slipping the map in her pocket. "Will that be all, father?"

"Just be careful, alright?" the god held the young warrior in a tight embrace before walking off.

Alice shrunk the book to its smaller size and placed it in her inventory. She fanned out her grey wings as she walked towards the end of the floating island. After taking a deep breath, Alice closed her lapis laluzi blue eyes and leapt off the edge, dropping like a stone. She snapped her eyes open and spread her wings as soon as her feet grazed the lower clouds, wincing as the strong wind caught the wings painfully.

Alice glided over the floating islands towards the largest one more into the center of the world. Taking up almost the whole landmass was an enormous palace made of Holystone. Four tall guard towers jutted out of the ground, connected by walls that surrounded the keep and main courtyard. She shifted her wings and flew over the wall, slowing down to land on the courtyard before running to her bedroom and started packing.

A few minutes later, Alice finished packing and jogged to the portal room. She stopped in front of a portal with a sign reading 'Overworld' and sighed, eyeing it warily. She did not like leaving the Aether and doing so made her feel uneasy.

'But I have to do this.' she reminded herself. With another sigh, Alice closed her eyes and stepped inside.

She opened her eyes to find herself in a dense forest biome. In her left hand, she held her backpack. In her right, a fist-sized silver medallion. Carved on it was a castle surrounded by clouds and floating islands. Alice stuffed the medal in her pocket before walking over to a tall tree and started climbing. By the time she reached a branch almost at the very top, her arms and legs were shaking with exertion and her lungs burned from lack of air.

Breathing heavily, she sat down on the branch and scowled. Considering she had lived in the Aether for as long as she could remember, Alice had gotten used to using her wings whenever she needed to go someplace high. Because Alice was not a Valkyrie, her wings disappeared when she went to another dimension besides the Aether. Another reason she did not like leaving.

With a sigh, Alice dug into her pocket and took out the map and unfolded it. The left side of it had a drawing of a plains and desert biome with a small village drawn where the two split. On the right-which took up about two thirds of the map- was a forest with a lake near the edge and a river connected to it, neatly splitting the biome in half. A sizable area next to a clearing on the opposite side was shaded in with bright red.

Looking up from the map, blue eyes scanned the vast land. The tree she was on was only a stone-throw away from the lake, so she assumed that she was somewhere at the edge of the forest biome.

'I guess the parts father wanted me to investigate is east of here.' she thought, folding it up and placing it back in her pocket. Not wanting to climb back down and waste more time, Alice stood carefully and jumped off the branch, landing in the lake with a loud splash.

It had taken her three days of travel (two if she had not gotten lost on several occasions), but Alice finally reached the area marked red. Somewhere in the middle was a small house made of some sort of coarse, dark red brick and stone. Brandishing her iron sword, Alice approached it with caution and slowly opened the door.

A wave of nausea hit her like a punch in the face. The inside reeked of blood, sweat and worst of all, decomposing corpses. Swallowing the bile that rose to her throat, Alice held up the Redstone lantern in her hand.

What she saw would be forever burnt into her mind.

Every inch of the floor was covered in blood and mutilated body parts. Chained on the wall were three of the five Valkyries that went missing a week before. Cuts, bruises and dirt covered their sickly pale skin and some were missing limbs. One of them had her wings ripped off her back and was carelessly thrown onto the grimy floor. The sword clattered on the ground as Alice stood in shock, unable to do anything. The sound caused the now-wingless valkyrie to flinch and look up, meeting the young warrior's gaze.

The voice that came from her mouth was weak and desperate. "H…elp…m…e"

She snapped our of her trance and picked up her sword, running over and swinging it with all her might. The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the room as the chains and the girl fell to the ground. Alice sat on the ground and gently placed her head on her lap.

"What happened to you…?" she whispered, gently caressing the injured Valkyrie's face.

"…T-the demon…he c-c-came for us…tortured my friends…took m-my wings…a-and t-those eyes…THOSE EYES!" she was beyond hysterical, shaking with fear and almost ripping out her disheveled red hair.

Alice held the sobbing girl to her chest, whispering comforting words to ease the crying. "What's your name?"

"…C-Claudia…" she hiccuped, breathing heavily.

"I'm taking you back to the Aether." Alice said, blue eyes meeting dark red ones. Claudia shook her head furiously, clutching her jacket in desperation.

"No! I can't leave! I-if h-he comes back and I'm not here, he'll…he'll kill…the others…" The Valkyrie loosened her grip on Alice and she slumped, her breathing becoming more and more laboured.

"…I don't…have much longer…t-tell you father…that he has…returned…and that…the time…is almost up…" With those words, Claudia's whole body slumped as her injuries took its toll and she slipped into eternal slumber.

Alice set her down gently on the ground, bringing a hand to Claudia's face and closing her dull, red eyes. Standing up, she grabbed her sword and walked outside, not wanting to stay in the cursed room. Upon stepping out, a zombie lunged at her.

The young warrior huffed as her sword pierced through the zombie's chest, causing it to disappear in a puff of rancid smoke. A hiss from behind was cut off as the blade slashed through the Creeper's skull, breaking the over-used weapon into shards. Cursing silently, she hid behind a tree and dug through her bag, gritting her teeth when she finds all of her swords broke in the span of two days.

'But there are an unusual amount of mobs in this area…could there be a connection between this and what happened to them?' she pondered, still searching for more weapons. Her hand clasped around a bow and she pulled it out, along with the stack of arrows beside it.

It was the bow and arrows she had enchanted a while back, though she had forgotten what it did.

"A weapon's a weapon." Alice murmured, loading the bow and placing the rest of the diamond-tipped arrows on her belt. She pulled the string back just as and arrow flies in her direction, missing her head by only a few inches. Aiming for the skeleton, she sent the arrow flying towards it, hitting it square in the eye-socket. With an unearthly screech, the mob distorts as a portal opens where the arrow hit and pulled it in, ripping it apart from the inside out before finally disappearing.

"Holy shit." She muttered, looking down at the bow in her hands. Unfortunately, the screeching caused all of the mobs in the surrounding area to come towards the source of the sound. Soon enough, a horde of skeletons, zombies, creepers and spiders surrounded the young warrior, along with several Endermen.

Seeing that there is no chance of her being able to fight off such a horde, she turned and ran away.

-~END OF FLASHBACK~-

"And so after that, I arrived at a clearing where his house was-" she said, gesturing in Steve's general direction. "-and got attacked by an Enderman, just as I reached his front door. I guess that's why this happened." Alice held up her right hand and clenched her fist, causing the long, black claws to slide out. She unclenched her fist and the claws disappear from the view. "Then I woke up in his house and-"

Chris cut in. "Whoa whoa whoa. He didn't do anything to you did he?! Cause I swear, if that mortal did anything to you, I'll-"

"Shut up, Chris." Adia said, her black eyes turning a pale grey as she used her ability. He opened his mouth to protest, but no sound came out. She turned to the half-Ender. "Continue."

"Thank you. Anyways, Steve found out about the whole thing and we went to meet his doctor friend Nick to fully interest and what the heck is going to happen. He said that something called the Ender Virus went into my system and is slowly changing my DNA and turning me into an Enderman."

"Ender Virus? Does something like that even exist?" Arson asked.

Adia replied. "Nothing like that exists. It's most likely a curse and not a virus. Alice, I don't think you can trust this guy."

"I was just about to get to that. When I asked if there was a cure, he acted all wierd and kicked us out. The next day, Steve and I went back to Nick's house. When I went inside, I saw this on his table." Alice fished into her pocket and took out the ring, showing it to them. The gem that once resembled fire before became grey, a dark shadow swirling inside.

Adia took it from her hands and examined it as Alice continued. "He suddenly appeared from behind and threatened to kill me if I didn't give him back the ring. I found kind of suspicious. I mean, why would he be so desperate on getting it back? And why did it look so much like one that just 'happened to show up in my pocket'? So I ran to the forest. Sometime later, he started chasing after us.

"Steve and I went to one of his old shelters to hide until that whack-job gave up on chasing us, but he found us. And he turned into this…thing made of fire. He tried to kill us, the moon rose, everything else after that was a blur, though I recall passing out under a tree. And that's why I'm so late on returning."

For what seemed like forever, everything was silent. All that was heared was the slight crackle of the bonfire. A low groan broke the silence. The three Valkyries and the half-Ender warrior snapped their heads towards the source of the noise, which came from the now-conscious Steve. He sat up and looked around, dark blue eyes widening as the miner saw the winged figures.

"Who…who the Nether are you?"

A/N: Ta da! So that's what happened before she met Steve! See you next chapter!


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The second those words left the miner's mouth everything went silent once again. For several minutes the only sound heard was the wind blowing through the trees and the gentle crackle of fire.

As they stared blankly at him, the Valkyries were thinking the same thing. _He's not…but it can't be…he looks exactly like _him_ except…No. It's just a mere coincidence. There is no way he could be back…could it?_

"Where…am I? Who are… you people?" Steve rasped, grunting in pain as he tried to sit up more.

"Stop moving, mortal. You're not fully healed yet." Arson said, "If you move any more, you'll reopen your wounds."

Before he could say another word, his arms gave out from under him and he flopped back down on the sleeping mat, squeezing his eyes shut. "GAH-What happened? The last thing …I remember was that field and Nick…he's a Blaze…we were attacked…" Steve trailed off, having a hard time recalling what happened afterwards. His eyes snapped opened as the memories flooded back. "I was hit…and Alice was hit too…! Is she okay?"

"I'm fine. Albeit sore and burned, but I'm still alive." Alice replied, "Now I know the answer might be a 'no' since you look like shit right now-no offence-but I think it's customary to ask…are you feeling any better?"

Steve turned his head towards her and gave Alice a relieved and somewhat pained smile. "None taken. And I'm feeling…a little better, since it doesn't feel like…a creeper exploded in my face and I got thrown… off a high cliff and into a pit of lava anymore. More like…someone just…pushed me off a high cliff and…into a pit…of lava."

"I would suggest that you stop talking for a bit, mortal." Adia recommended when she noticed his slight difficulty speaking. "I don't think your ribs have fully mended, so please don't strain yourself too much."

"Alright…but can you please not…call me 'mortal'? It's... kind of offensive."

"Yes, I apologize. Your name is…" the young Valkyrie narrowed her eyes in concentration. "It's Steven, correct?"

Steve nodded in confirmation. "Yes. My name…is Steven Craftwright, but just Steve please…how did you know that?"

"I believe that Alice mentioned your name once or twice." She replied. "I'm Adia Hunter, that's my brother Arson and our friend Chris."

"Hey." The other two chorused in unison.

Steve turned his head to look at Chris. "Just Chris? No last name?"

"I don't know." He responded in a flat voice.

"Oh." The miner noticed the change in atmosphere and decided to drop the subject. "Uh, if you don't mind me asking…and I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly are you?" he asked cautiously, glancing at the massive wings adorning their backs.

"Oh right, we are-OW! Son of a-"Arson clutched his head in pain and glared at Adia, who was also glaring at her sibling.

"You're not supposed to reveal any information to outsiders, brother." She hissed.

He opened his mouth to protest when someone blurted out, "There's no point."

Everyone's gaze suddenly shifted towards Alice, making her shift uncomfortably under their expectant gazes.

"I mean, chances are, Steve was already conscious enough to hear what I said about the Aether and about why I was in the Overworld in the first place. He has the right to get an explanation. And besides, he saved me from, you know, bleeding out in the middle of the woods. You can trust him not to tell anyone." She cringed internally at her rather lame explanation, but it seemed to have done the trick since no one had said anything to object.

"…She's got a point, you know." Chris piped up. "I say go for it. I trust him if he managed to keep Alice out of trouble."

Arson grinned. "Hey, dude. You can talk again!"

"Yeah I talked, like, a minute ago. Didn't you notice? It was pretty easy considering Adia kind of lost concentration when you almost revealed everything about the real Aether to the mortal over there." He said, jabbing a thumb towards Steve.

"Hey I wasn't going to tell him 'everything'. I was only gonna tell him about what we are and how we all have special abilities. Until my sister started being a complete hard ass and-"

"If you two can finish talking amongst yourselves like a bunch of schoolgirls that would be great." Adia interrupted, crossing her arms and huffing exasperatedly at the two. "…But I guess you're right. Go ahead; tell him about the real Aether."

Arson blinked, taken aback by how quickly his normally stubborn sibling agreed. "Uh…are you sure…?"

She sighed. "Don't be so surprised. If you're not going to tell him then I will."

He shook his head. "Yeah, I will. Just give me a second."

Steve tried to sit up again, ignoring the groans of protest from his limbs and chest. After a while he just gave up and lied back down. "Ack. What are you all talking about?"

Arson breathed out, his grey wings ruffling absently as he thought of what to say. "Where to start…you know how if you build a portal out of glowstone, you can go to the Aether? Well the thing is…that isn't really the Aether _per se_."

"The actual one-the one where Alicia, Adia, Chris and I come from- is located above the one accessible to mortals. The reason why we came down here is that she-"he gestured towards Alice "-was supposed to return a few days ago, but didn't. We found her in the forest near that village and we were going to take her back, but…"

"…You saw me in that clearing too." Steve finished.

"Yes. It would've been wrong to leave someone for dead like that, so we took you with us."

"That reminds me…" Chris cut in, "Shouldn't we head back? _He _is probably worried sick."

"Oh shit, you're right." Arson said, standing up. "Alice, do you still have one of the portal emblems?"

"Wait, what about Steve? What's going to happen to him?" Alice asked.

The three valkyries shared a look. There has got to a reason why the mortal looked almost identical to the supposedly exiled and imprisoned demigod, and the others might be able to provide with answers and confirm or deny their suspicions. After a moment, they all nodded in silent agreement.

Chris answered, "He's coming with us. Your father might be interested in…knowing about him."

Alice raised an eyebrow, confused of what they're planning, but chose not to question it. She dug into her pocket and tossed the silver piece to him, which he caught without trouble. Arson ran a finger along the edge until he felt a small button. As he was fiddling around with the medallion, Chris went over to Steve and grabbed his arm.

"Wh…what are you doing…?" Steve groaned.

"Shut up a sec, I'm trying to concentrate." He gritted his teeth and grabbed Alice's wrist with his free hand. "Just a warning, this might hurt a bit."

"Wait, what-Aagghh-!" a pained yell ripped from the miner's throat as he felt the cuts and burns mend and broken bones knit together. Alice bit down on her lip to stifle her own scream of pain.

After a few agonizing seconds, the brunette Valkyrie let go of their arms and the ache gradually faded. He stood and said a quick apology before leaving the two, who were breathing heavily.

Alice sat up and faced Steve. "You feel okay?"

He opened his eyes and sat up as well, surprised that other than a small bit of soreness, it did not hurt for him to move. "Y-yeah. That kind of hurt though. But I feel much better." Steve smiled, but it quickly faded when he saw some tears left a wet trail on her cheeks. He lifted a hand and wiped away a few stray tears.

Alice blushed at the contact and used her sleeve to wipe the remaining tears "Oh, jeez. That's embarrassing." She let out a nervous chuckle and muttered, "What's wrong with me…? This is the second time… "

The miner tilted his head, "Second time?"

"…It's nothing, don't worry about it." Alice stood and brushed the dirt off her pants. "I'm going to go see if Arson's done with the portal."

Right after she said that, said Valkyrie beamed and announced, "And done!" He did a quick head count and pressed a button five times.

Click, click, click, click, click. He set it on the ground and a small blue orb floated up, which turned into a full sized portal after a brief flash of light. Arson turned back to the others and raised his voice so they can hear him over the low hum coming from the portal. "Okay, you know the drill. One person at a time or else the portal closes. See you on the other side." And with that, he stepped through the blue mist.

One by one, they stepped through until only Alice and Steve remained.

"So why exactly am I going with your… friends to Notch-knows-where?" he asked as he eyed the portal warily.

"...I'm not actually sure myself. They said something about my father probably wanting to know about you? But why?" the half-ender sighed, "It would be better if we just went. If it has anything to do with my father then I have no objections." She stepped towards the portal and reached for it. But the moment her hand made contact with the bluish mist, small sparks came out from the medallion and the portal statics before disappearing.

The Valkyries stood there, staring at where the portal used to be.

"W-what the Nether just happened?" Arson stuttered, breaking the silence.

"They must've tried to step through at the same time. The portal closes every time that happens." Chris said. He turned to Adia. "Try to get contact with Alice. Ask her what happened."

She nodded and closed her eyes, trying to connect with Alice's mind. When she did, she wasted no time. With an entire dimension between the two, it was only a matter of time before the connection would break.

"_Alice, what's going on? Why did the portal close all of the sud__den?" _ Adia demanded.

"_I-I don't know. I tried to go through it and it suddenly closed when I touched it!" _The youngest Valkyrie heard the voice of the half-ender.

"…_Did you and the Steven try to go through the portal at the same time?"_

"_No. I don't get it, why can't I get through?" _ There was a pause before she continued, "_…Adia I want to go home."_

She sighed, _"I know, but I might have a plan. We're going to try and figure out what happened. For now, just sit tight, okay?"_

"_Okay…I'll see you guys in a bit." _ And with that, the connection severed and Adia opened her eyes.

"So what did she say?" Her sibling asked.

She shrugged in reply and exited the portal room, gesturing for them to follow. "I don't see why it acted up like that. Alice and Steven didn't go in at the same time, Alice went by herself…"

The three ended up inside the massive library of the castle. It was a large room with a high ceiling and a skylight letting enough light in to illuminate a reading area in the center of the maze of bookshelves. Their footsteps were silenced by the grey carpet as they followed the youngest Valkyrie to one of the bookshelves. She flew up to the higher shelves and plucked out an old, leather-bound book before landing back on the ground. Adia set it down on a nearby table and started flipping through the wrinkled parchment.

"What's that? Aren't we supposed to be, you know, getting Alicia home?" Arson asked, confused on why they were wasting their time in the library.

"It's a book, brother." Adia muttered, not taking her eyes off the page. "On magical entities such as _portals."_ She emphasised the last word and tapped a paragraph written in faded ink.

"_Much like water or lava, portal blocks cannot be broken by tools. However, they can be destroyed by weak or strong explosions, or if any portal block is destroyed, the whole portal is deactivated." Chris read aloud, "TNT, a Ghast's fireball explosion, an exploding bed, a Wither's explosive head or an exploding Creeper/Charged Creeper can all disable a portal… _Yeah, we know that. What's your point?"

"Next paragraph." Adia said, sitting down on one of the vacant chairs.

He continued reading, "_Other types of portals (such as ones activated by a Portal Emblem) cannot be destroyed by any type of explosion or tools. Emblem portals can only be activated by a Divine creature such as Valkyries, Demi-gods, Gods, etc. and are usually very difficult to deactivate. However, emblem portals can be deactivated when any of the following events occur: _ _The person who activated it dies, two souls attempt to pass through at the same time or if the soul of a Neutral or Hostile mob attempts to pass through. In the event that any of these occur, the entity that attempted to pass through the portal would most likely be trapped in between crossing dimensions (since it takes approximately 1.5 seconds for the portal to close), unless two of those events somehow happen at the same time. In situations like these, the portal closes instantaneously."_

"So, what?" Arson quipped, crossing his arms impatiently.

"_So, _if my theory is correct, I know what went wrong _and_ how to fix it." She responded, taking the book back. "I think what caused the mishap is Alice's Ender half. My theory is that the portal mechanics might have mistaken it for another soul as well as a mob's soul."

"And since that was two of the things that would cause the portal to deactivate, it closed before she even had the chance to go through?" Chris finished.

"Exactly! Now what we need to do is create a portal that can either allow two souls to pass simultaneously, or one that can be accessed by a mob." Adia flipped through the pages and stopped on one covered in diagrams and notes.

Arson slid the book towards him and quickly skimmed through the pages. "Alright, let's do this."

Alice sighed as the connection cut off. The half-ender sat down on the ground and watched as the miner lit the bonfire with a flint and steel. Steve took a seat beside her and noticed her expression.

"Hey, what's the matter? You look troubled." He queried, placing a hand on her shoulder.

A sigh escaped her lips as she brought her knees to her chest and rested her head on her knees. Something has been nagging her for the past few days and that moment would be the best time to say it. Looking into the fire, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Steve raised an eyebrow, taken aback by the sudden apology. "Sorry for what?"

"For dragging you into all this." She responded, not taking her eyes away from the flames. "I should have been more careful. If I had been, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have turned into this and you wouldn't have gotten hurt, Steve, you almost _died_ for fuck sakes. Maybe it would have been better for both of us if all of the things the past few days never happened. "

The miner stared at Alice for a while before shaking his head.

"Alice, let me tell you a story." Steve shifted his position so that he faced her, crossing his legs. "…Once, there was a boy. His name was…let's say Steven. Now Steven had a family, a mom, dad and a little sister. When he was older, Steven noticed that everyone in the village would look at him weird. They looked at him with suspicion, scorn, _distrust_. But the most evident expression on their faces…was one of fear. He didn't know _why _they feared him, some of them would even spit at his feet, call him a monster. Sometimes it would even go as far as getting his family involved, saying that they would burn in the Nether for protecting a demon. Eventually, he grew tired of everything and decided to go out and live in the wilderness, so that the villagers would stop harassing his family.

"And so, Steven spent the next two years of his life alone in a cabin in the forest. He didn't have any trouble protecting himself from the mobs at night, but he only had one problem. He was sick of being alone. Anyways, a few nights later, he heard someone pounding his door. Assuming it was just a zombie trying to get in he ignored it, but after that he heard a scream. Not a mob's scream, but a human one. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see a girl, but it surprised him more when he saw that she was hurt. So he took her inside, bandaged her wounds and watched over her until she woke up. But the point is, Alice, that I was sick and tired of being alone. Sick of dragging on each day without reason… If you hadn't come along, became my friend, gave me a _purpose_…" his words trailed off as he looked at the ground, eyes blank.

Alice was speechless. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Alice spoke up.

"Steve…I-" her words were cut off when a bolt of lightning split the sky and small droplets of water fell from the clouds, growing stronger by the second and eventually putting the fire out. "Shit."

She stood up and looked around the dark clearing, using the sleeping mat as a shield from the rain. Alice felt something grab her arm and turned to see the miner point towards a large tree.

"We should get out of the rain." He said, "That tree should be big enough for a shelter. Follow me."

Sometime later, they reached the tree and used the thick branches and leaves as a roof for a small shelter. As he placed the wooden planks for the wall, Alice lit a torch and stuck it in the ground, spreading out the wet sleeping mat so it dries. She also used some spare material to craft a bed. Steve looked out into the rain and frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, sitting on the bed.

"I left my sleeping mat out there. It's probably soaked by now." He sighed, putting down the last block, but leaving a portion of the wall open to let air out.

Alice stayed silent for a moment. "You sleep on the bed."

Steve shook his head, "I can sleep on the ground."

"No. You already slept on the ground last time." She persisted. "I owe you."

"It's fine. I seriously don't mind sleeping on the ground." The miner smiled, "Besides, it would be rude to make a lady sleep on the cold ground."

"Then we share." She said, crossing her arms. "This way this conversation about who-gets-what will be over and everyone is happy."

Steve blinked, "What?"

Alice tapped the spot beside her. "You heard me. Now come on, it's been a long day. Get some sleep."

He opened his mouth to object, but instead, a yawn escaped his lips and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Alright, fine. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Steve, if I did, would I ask in the first place?" her voice came out sluggish as she responded, already half-asleep by the time she finished the sentence. "Just go to sleep."

After a bit of hesitancy, he gave in and crawled under the warm cover, the quiet tapping of rain against the leaves and low moans of the zombies outside mixed with the comfortable warmth slowly lulled him to a deep slumber.

**A/N: Yeah sorry 'bout the long wait, kind of got side-tracked. I didn't really get to revise it that much so sorry for the mistakes. For the record, I made up some things so I'm 99.9% sure that some of the things here don't exist in Minecraft. See you guys next chapter.**


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